By: Drayton Hogarth

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

The NBA playoffs are here and the Atlanta Hawks have another opportunity to bring home an NBA title.

Yea, there is also an opportunity to win the lottery but like the Hawks winning an NBA title, the odds aren’t in your favor.

One amazing statistic that gets overlooked by the vast majority of sports fans, this will be the Hawks tenth consecutive playoff appearance. That is second only to the San Antonio Spurs amazing run of now twenty-one straight playoff runs. However the Spurs have five championship trophies to go along with their great feat.

Can the Hawks make a push in this year’s playoff? They are certainly entering the playoffs with some significant momentum given how the Hawks have defeated Cleveland twice and Boston once, with both of those teams in hot pursuit of the top overall seed in the east.

Atlanta has wrapped up the fifth seed in the playoffs this year, which certainly isn’t ideal. It also means that they will not have home court advantage in any playoff series, barring some unforeseen upsets-which may happen.

The Hawks first round opponent will be a familiar foe in the Washington Wizards. The Wizards beat the Hawks three out of four games this season but two of the wins by Washington were decided by four points or less.

The Hawks should matchup well with the Wizards; despite the extremely athletic guards, John Wall and Bradley Beal. Atlanta is much more physical up front compared to the Wizards; with Dwight Howard, backup Mike Muscala, and the anchor of the team Paul Milsap.

Honestly, this may be the biggest test of the playoffs for the Hawks; can they go into a series and beat a team that may be hungrier than they are?

The Wizards haven’t made it to the second round of the playoffs since before most of their current players were born; the 1978-79 season. Plus, many players remain from the team that the Hawks defeated in the Eastern Conference semifinals two seasons ago, so there is a bit of a revenge factor in their minds. If the Hawks can win this first round series, it will only bolster the serious momentum in Atlanta and possibly make the team and fans believe even more.

The biggest reason Atlanta may be in good position to make a strong playoff push this season had more to do with how the rest of the east is shaping up.

There is no team in the eastern conference that the Hawks cannot beat in a seven game series including Cleveland. Whether the Cavs get the top spot in the east or not, this is not the same team that was on a mission last season.

Boston, while good, still shouldn’t scare the Hawks, as Atlanta matches up very well with the Boys from Beantown; taking two of three games.

Atlanta may even be in the heads of Lebron and the Cavs entering this year’s playoffs due to two wins in back to back games the week prior to the end of the season. The Hawks, while resting five starters mind you, blew out the Cavs at full strength in Cleveland. Then followed that up with an amazing come from behind win after being down by 26 points in the fourth quarter to win in overtime.

One thing is certain, Atlanta will rely on their bench more than any other team in the playoffs. The Hawks second unit has really come into their own and do a great job of not allowing a letdown in play when the starters need a rest.

Players like the previously mentioned Mike Muscala, Mike Dunleavy, and the recently acquired Jose Calderon have given the Hawks a strong presence off the bench that allow things such as beating Cleveland in back to back games.

Coach Budenholzer has also inserted rookie Taurean Prince into the starting lineup and he has paid big dividends so far.

As we all know, the playoffs are a different beast but the Hawks are in a great spot to be a bird of a different feather. Now, if they can only win that first round matchup!